I decided to put this on the long-dormant iM@S 2 board as it feels more significant to that than anything else.

A few of the other members (from the Firday Get-Togethers) and I have agreed to have a special discussion on the "9/18 Incident" for its fifth anniversary this year. The discussion itself will happen prior to the date itself, as it is my birthday on the actual day on a Friday meaning I will likely have plans that evening. Also, yes, I am allowing early birthday wishes during the discussion. :p

I came up with this idea as I feel this is a good time to look back on such a controversial time and see if Namco have improved over the years, how the franchise and its fans have changed, and context of how it was back during the pre-2nd Vision days.

Why am I making this public? I want to have some additional people in the discussion. Specifically people that were iM@S fans around that time, just to have that other perspective of people that were around during the event or, hell, actually saw the event if you're THAT person. If anybody wishes to join in, please voice your participation on this thread. A few things, though:

1) This conversation will happen on Skype, thus I will need you to PM me your Skype ID if I do not have you as a contact.

2) This discussion will be recorded and uploaded on YouTube. Do not partake in this discussion if you have issues with having your voice recorded and released to a public video.

3) Only invite yourself if you are certain that you can contribute something to this discussion. Regardless of when you became a fan of the series, if you know you have something to contribute to the discussion, please go on ahead. This is a specific discussion about a specific event, not a casual chat.

4) When you are in this discussion, please keep it civilized. You can swear and voice your opinions; however, do NOT be rude, state something heavily controversial unless you can either back it up or it is relevant to the discussion, or disrespect the opinions of the others. If you do any of these three, you will be kicked out of the call and NOT be able to rejoin the call as any attempt at you returning to the call will be ignored.

5) At some point before the discussion (may even be as soon as I add you as a Skype contact), I will personally have a test call with you so that I can make sure you have a working mic and can chat this way. Remember, this is a voice chat discussion.

Date of the discussion is pending. I will post a concrete date and time on this thread when it occurs. I am trying for a mid-September date during the evening, preferably a week before September 18, 2015.

Anyway, please leave a reply to this thread if you wish to participate and send me your Skype ID via PM for me to add.

I'm curious myself, despite being a member for quite a few years and a fan for longer.

Namco's controversial iM@S 2 showing at Tokyo Game Show 2010 that caused a massive uproar when Ryuuguu Komachi was revealed to be relegated to NPCs, Yukiho's VA was switched from Hase to Asakura, and Jupiter was announced. This and many other events caused an uproar so huge, it almost killed the franchise.

Namco's controversial iM@S 2 showing at Tokyo Game Show 2010 that caused a massive uproar when Ryuuguu Komachi was revealed to be relegated to NPCs, Yukiho's VA was switched from Hase to Asakura, and Jupiter was announced. This and many other events caused an uproar so huge, it almost killed the franchise.

Sounds like a more formal discussion. Which is good, but I'm too lazy to take time to form coherent thoughts/opinions that others could understand and agree. (Learned my lesson from English class the hard way. Thought I could just wing a group discussion.)

Also I trust people here to keep it civil. It's harder to start drama when you're saying it irl, not typing it lol

That's true. I know you guys don't want to hear each other yelling via your laptops. So, I'm not too worried about that.

What I don't want to hear is attacks/insults on older fans or newer fans. I respect both sides since there are shades of gray.

I mean at least of me there are some good things I like about im@s after vision 2 (or 9/18) and some things I don't like about it. And, vice-versa. There are some good things I like im@s before vision 2 (or 9/18) and some things I don't like about it. That's why I like to befriend both the newer and older fans and bridge the gap between the two to form my own preferences on im@s.

But, like I said I don't think this will happen as Maka pointed it out since this is talking and not posting.

The discussion itself will occur on Skype on September 12, 2015 at 8PM EST. The entire thing will be recorded on Audacity and the video will be done by me and uploaded on my YouTube channel, hopefully by the actual date itself.

Also, the last day I will accept submissions for the discussion will be September 10th 11:59PM EST. Anybody who wishes to join yet send me info after this date and time will not be brought into the discussion. Let me know either on Skype or via PM if you are 100% able to attend.

Thirdly, I will create the Skype group on September 11th and have a test call with everyone in the group to try out any setups needed for the discussion. I will inform all of you of the time for the test.

1) This conversation will happen on Skype, thus I will need you to PM me your Skype ID if I do not have you as a contact.

2) This discussion will be recorded and uploaded on YouTube. Do not partake in this discussion if you have issues with having your voice recorded and released to a public video.

3) Only invite yourself if you are certain that you can contribute something to this discussion. Regardless of when you became a fan of the series, if you know you have something to contribute to the discussion, please go on ahead. This is a specific discussion about a specific event, not a casual chat.

4) When you are in this discussion, please keep it civilized. You can swear and voice your opinions; however, do NOT be rude, state something heavily controversial unless you can either back it up or it is relevant to the discussion, or disrespect the opinions of the others. If you do any of these three, you will be kicked out of the call and NOT be able to rejoin the call as any attempt at you returning to the call will be ignored.

5) At some point before the discussion (may even be as soon as I add you as a Skype contact), I will personally have a test call with you so that I can make sure you have a working mic and can chat this way. Remember, this is a voice chat discussion.

Also, yes, I will still accept early birthday wishes during the discussion. :p